Chapter 218 Upgrading is difficult? It won't be difficult if someone helps
"What are you talking about, Mr. Zhang?"

Yu Yan had no idea what was going to happen next, so the question she asked was a bit naive.

But this is how relationships are built in reality.

Those who are being used to gain popularity don’t have to do anything, but those who want to make connections have a lot to consider.

Zhang Yang taking Shen Yiyi to call her senior sister was just the beginning.

Next, Shen Yiyi took out a metal spoon from the leather bag at her side, and handed it over in her palm as if it were a token of trust.

"what is this?"

Yu Yan took it with doubt.

A bronze spoon, covered with green rust, looks like it has a history of at least a thousand years.

However, after Dr. Yu Yan graduated, she had only been working at the Palace Museum for a few years and did not have the ability to appraise treasures, so she could not tell the real ones from the fakes.

She only felt:

She took out a spoon without saying anything. Does it mean that just because I called myself senior sister, I have to take care of the lunch for these three people?
"Senior Sister, this is a token of trust." Zhang Yang whispered beside her.

"A token? What does that mean?"

"Yiyi, please introduce me to Senior Sister."

"Okay, sure." Shen Yiyi walked to Yu Yan obediently, reached out to help her turn the bronze spoon over and adjusted its position.

Now you can clearly see the tiny calligraphy engraved on the bottom of the spoon:

[The chef of the Imperial Household Department - made in the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu]

"Is this something from the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty?" Yu Yan looked up in surprise and asked Shen Yiyi.

But the latter ignored her and turned his head to signal her to ask Zhang Yang.

"Mr. Zhang, where did you get this bronze spoon?"

"It's inherited from our ancestors. To be more precise, it's passed down from our master."

Zhang Yang put his hands behind his back and spoke slowly, his temperament suddenly improved by three points.

It’s a pity that his hair is not white, otherwise he would have the look of a great master.

"The founder of our Tukeng section was the manager of the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty. He specially made this spoon to reflect their level as a keepsake."

"According to unofficial historical records, Emperor Guangxu once wanted to exchange this spoon with Empress Dowager Cixi, but was sternly rejected by the founder."

"Because eunuchs don't use women."

"After the Qing dynasty fell, this spoon remained in the hands of our ancestor, representing the orthodox inheritance of Beijing-style bronze ware."

"Do you understand, Senior Sister?"

After Zhang Yang finished speaking, he looked into Yu Yan's eyes and asked meaningfully.

Since the Palace Museum wants to use the name of "Waizui Yu" to promote their long-standing bronze restoration technology, don't blame Zhang Yang for trying to extort money from them.

If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight.

The main reason is that Shen Yiyi and Li Zi are both looking forward to it, and Zhang Yang’s main goal is not to spoil the fun.

That's why this happened.

But Yu Yan was confused.

She shook her head in confusion and said, "Actually, I didn't quite understand, but I have a question. Aren't you from Qingzhou?"

"How did the founder get involved with the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty?"

"Sister, what you said is true. Our ancestor's legs and feet are fine and he can walk."

Zhang Yang smiled and replied:
"Besides, don't we have you guys in Yanjing? We thought, since we are all on the same side, let you take down the Forbidden City first."

"As long as you take out this token, your lineage should listen to the chef, right?"

"Uh..." Yu Yan was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.

As a doctoral student at the School of History of Yenching University, she actually doesn't quite believe in the inheritance genealogy chart.

However, the academic circle of culture, museums and history emphasizes the inheritance of knowledge from master to apprentice, and her own external identity is that of a legitimate seventh-generation successor.

“I don’t quite understand this either.”

"Wait a moment, I'll go find someone who knows this."

"No problem, please go ahead, Senior Sister. Just tell the uncles and aunts that the people from Tukeng Section are here, and they will know."

"Okay." Yu Yan responded, then immediately took the bronze spoon and ran into the corridor in the distance.

Went to the laboratory in the back.

Zhang Yang took the two girls and found a place to sit nearby.

In fact, except for him, the other two also saw this bronze spoon for the first day. If Shen Yiyi had not been quick to put the things into the bag first, the same thing would have happened if Li Zi had given them the things just now.

How to use this spoon depends entirely on what Zhang Yang thinks.

"Brother, why didn't you tell me about this token earlier?" Shen Yiyi asked from the side.

Her thoughts are:
"If I had known that we had a relationship with the Forbidden City, I would have come here for an internship as a junior in college!"

"You can also come here and find a job or something."

"What's the point of saying it earlier? It still depends on whether others recognize it or not." Zhang Yang shook his head and replied.

In fact, he was saying in his heart that if he had not talked with Director Jin about his antique imitation technology and the intangible cultural heritage projects of the Palace Museum a few days ago, he would have almost forgotten that he was the successor of the so-called "Tukeng Duan".

Naturally, I wouldn't have a sudden idea to come here for "academic exchange".

As for the spoon, he spent a long time tinkering with it in a small workshop that Boss Zhen helped him find.

The prototype was just an ordinary bronze fragment, but after being manipulated by his hands, it was transformed into something magical and looked almost the same as an antique bronze ware from the Qing Dynasty.

But it is hard to say whether it can deceive the eyes of Master Wang of the Fifth Generation in the Forbidden City.

He is a master after all.

But it turned out that his worries were in vain, because the person who came was not from the fifth generation, but from the sixth generation, Jiao Junhong, Master Jiao.

He is Yu Yan's master and also the eldest disciple of the fifth-generation Master Wang.

The ability is there, but it is only at the expert level.

This person's identity was clearly written in the inheritance genealogy, so Zhang Yang remembered it after Yu Yan gave him a brief introduction.

"Greetings, Uncle Jiao." Zhang Yang bowed first.

Shen Yiyi naturally followed suit and did the same thing: "Junior Shen Yiyi, greetings to Uncle Jiao."

Jiao Junhong was obviously an old hand. He was not stunned like Yu Yan just now. Instead, he supported her in the air and said quickly:
"Excuse me, both of you. We don't like that now. You can just call me Lao Jiao."

"I dare not. My uncle is my uncle after all. Our master said that when we ask for help from others, we must flatter them. No, we must show respect to them."

"It's up to you then." Jiao Junhong smiled and waved his hand, making a guiding gesture: "This is not the place to talk, let's go to the meeting room!"

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, uncle."

"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Master!" Shen Yiyi and Li Zi said, each more gentle than the other.

However, Jiao Junhong did not respond.

In fact, from the time he left the house until he sat down in the meeting room, he never responded to the title of "Uncle Master".

It was impossible for him to say anything before he understood Zhang Yang's intention.

After everyone was seated, Zhang Yang was about to speak when Jiao Junhong suddenly stretched out his hands and clapped in the air.

Then, the door of the conference room was opened, and several elderly people in white formal clothes walked in one after another.

Zhang Yang was the younger generation at the moment, so of course he could only wait silently, but he still tried to match these people with the photos hanging on the wall outside.

Although I don't remember it very clearly, after a brief exchange between the three of them, they confirmed the identities of the last few old men present, who were all researchers here.

However, Jiao Junhong is the only fifth-generation successor, and the remaining four are all experienced experts.

After everyone was present, Jiao Junhong began to get down to business.

He motioned Zhang Yang to wait for a moment, then placed the bronze spoon on the table. "This is a bronze artifact brought by this young friend. Masters, please help me take a look and see if there is any flaw on it."

After he finished speaking, the remaining four teachers stood up immediately.

They gathered around the table, placed the bronze spoon where everyone could see it, and examined it carefully.

Want to find the "flaw".

At the same time, Jiao Junhong was also carefully observing Zhang Yang's expression.

He didn't believe in the "Tukeng Duan" at all, let alone the talk of any token or chef.

But he just took a quick look at the bronze spoon that Shen Yiyi took out and really didn't find anything wrong.

The shape, rust color, engraving technique, and even the marks of the sunken places of the characters are all perfect.

This is a bit ruinous.

Do they want to recognize one eunuch as the founder and another eunuch as the leader of the sect?
He cannot accept it.

Even in name only, they cannot accept it. What if someone ruins the reputation they have worked so hard to build?

That's why Jiao Junhong directly stopped the team members who were repairing the Wuwangdun Bronze Tripod and asked them to spend ten minutes to help take a look at this thing.

Ten minutes passed quickly.

Normally at this time, some veteran researchers would have already started talking, and they were in a hurry to get back to work.

But this time it was strange. The agreed time had arrived, but no one spoke.

Some people even want to take a closer look.

"You didn't realize it either, did you?" Jiao Junhong asked in disbelief.

His word "also" successfully made several old gentlemen laugh.

"Old Jiao, just tell me, who did you ask to get this thing?"

One of the old researchers stroked his beard, looked in Zhang Yang's direction and asked:
"Did someone from Shengbo send it here to test our eyesight? Or was it a treasure you found in Panjia Garden?"

"Let's not talk about this for now. Can you guys tell me, do you see anything special about this spoon?" Jiao Junhong asked anxiously.

After the old researcher finished speaking, the corners of Zhang Yang's mouth almost curled up to the sky.

This gave Jiao Junhong an ominous feeling.

Could it be that……

The veteran researchers don't have so many weird ideas.

They held the bronze spoon and explained one by one:
"This spoon is probably a fragment of a bronze ware from the Han Dynasty, and it was repaired into a bronze spoon like this."

"The words on it should have been carved later, but it's been quite a while now, probably about a hundred years."

"This should be a small toy made by craftsmen in the late Qing Dynasty or even modern times. As for the figure of a chef carved on the bottom, maybe it really exists."

"Old Jiao, you have collected this thing very well! We will have one more piece of evidence for our inheritance."

The veteran researchers thought this was a compliment to Jiao Junhong, but it was actually a stab in the back.

The latter's face turned pale and he was speechless.

Zhang Yang saw that the mood was almost there, so he stood up, bowed to the old gentlemen and said:

"Thank you for your appraisal. I had some doubts about this item, but after your appraisal, I finally understand that the inheritance of our master is real."

"Master's inheritance? Young man, do you mean that this thing was passed down by your master?"

"In that case, isn't your master a eunuch from the Qing Palace?"

"That's the ancestor. The eunuch is the ancestor, and my master is a real man." Zhang Yang corrected.

After hearing this, the four old researchers stared at each other in silence for a while.

They all realized something was wrong.

He also understood that the reason why Jiao Junhong looked so bad was not because the food at lunch was too bland, but because the young man in front of him was the legitimate descendant of the eunuchs who imitated bronze ware.

This is going to be fun!

After promoting it for so long and even making a special brochure, you still end up not being orthodox?

But these things have no meaning at all to these old people.

The title of "Successor of Yu with a Crooked Mouth" has nothing to do with ordinary researchers like them.

Only outstanding employees evaluated by the department have the opportunity to become the successor of this school, have the title of "inheritor of national intangible cultural heritage skills", and appear in the brochure.

This is how PhDs like Yu Yan were attracted.

It has nothing to do with those of them who started learning skills before even finishing junior high school.

"Well, I forgot to turn off the soldering iron."

"I also forgot to turn off my soldering iron."

"Me too."

"..."

The four old researchers were too lazy to think and quickly fled the conference room, which was a place of trouble, with very perfunctory excuses.

After everyone left, Zhang Yang asked Jiao Junhong:
"With so many soldering irons, your place is almost like an electronics factory, right?"

"Do you think you are very humorous?" Jiao Junhong asked Zhang Yang with a gloomy face, staring at him.

"Isn't it funny? Then Uncle Jiao, you don't have to cry, right?"

"Don't call me uncle." Jiao Junhong waved his hand at Zhang Yang: "Even if this thing is really a token of the Qing Imperial Household Department, it doesn't mean anything."

"Just like you dug up the imperial seal, it doesn't mean you are the emperor."

"That's the truth." Zhang Yang responded by nodding and holding back his smile.

I didn't expect that the "Tukeng Duan" that I casually said at the time seemed to be coming true as I was saying it now.

This is even more outrageous than Zhu Yuanzhang selling ditches.

But what Jiao Junhong said actually makes sense. Owning this thing doesn't mean anything.

At most, it's like what the other party said:
"If you donate this thing to the Palace Museum, we will give you a certificate and a bonus, how about that?"

"That won't work." Zhang Yang shook his head decisively and said, "This is the inheritance of my master. Now that I have received your recognition today, I can go out and fight with this reputation in the future."

"Can't you earn as much money as you want?"

"Haha, it's true." Jiao Junhong was as excited as if he had guessed the topic of the college entrance examination essay. He raised his phone and said, "I've been recording it. Let me see if you can use the reputation of the Forbidden City to cheat people out of money?"

"Don't lie."

Zhang Yang also smiled and snapped his fingers lightly. Li Zi beside him immediately handed him a copy of his certificate of "County-level Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor".

"Can't I sell antique crafts that I made myself? It shouldn't be a lie to say that my craftsmanship is the same as that of the Forbidden City, right?"

Jiao Junhong looked at the certificate silently and did not reply immediately.

Instead, he entered Zhang Yang's certificate number on his mobile phone and checked the information.

When he found out that the certificate was genuine, his expression immediately changed again.

This time he became much kinder.

He even lowered his voice when speaking: "So your heritage has just been successfully declared as a county-level intangible cultural heritage?"

"Yes, this upgrade is a bit difficult." Zhang Yang said suggestively.

Jiao Junhong understood immediately and replied: "It is difficult to upgrade step by step, but we can recommend it."

"If your level is up to par, it will be no problem for you to be included in the national list of representative intangible cultural heritage items."

"But I have a prerequisite, which is: Don't use this bronze spoon to do anything that harms our interests..."

(The chapter will be changed to 4,000 words later. I will resume normal updates when I find a job. I haven’t found a job after searching for half a month. I can only promise to keep updating. Sorry)

(End of this chapter)